Kings Vs Ducks Game Preview: Kings Trying to Avoid Losing 3 Straight Games

The Kings have not played their best hockey in December, going 3-8 in their last 11 games and having 2 more games left before the New Year. The Kings have struggled to put together strong offensive games, and they look to try to change that tonight. The Ducks are coming into this game ranked 2nd in the Pacific Division, and they look to get a big divisional win tonight against the Kings. Both teams are coming off losses to the Seattle Kraken. The Kings lost 3-2, and the Ducks lost 3-1 just before the Winter break.  

Here are the projected lines for the Kings tonight: 

Alex Laferriere - Anze Kopitar - Adrian Kempe

Warren Foegele - Quinton Byfield - Trevor Moore

Kevin Fiala - Alex Turcotte - Andrei Kuzmenko

Joel Armia - Samuel Helenius - Corey Perry

Mikey Anderson - Drew Doughty

Joel Edmundson - Brandt Clarke

Brian Dumoulin - Cody Ceci

Anton Forsberg

Pheonix Copley

Here are the projected lines for the Ducks tonight: 

Chris Kreider - Leo Carlsson - Troy Terry

Cutter Gauthier - Mason McTavish - Beckett Sennecke

Frank Vatrano - Mikael Granlund - Ryan Strome

Ross Johnston - Ryan Poehling - Alex Killorn

Jackson LaCombe - Jacob Trouba

Olen Zellweger - Radko Gudas

Ian Moore - Drew Helleson

Lukas Dostal

Petr Mrazek

The Kings' goaltender, Darcy Kuemper, was on the ice earlier today, but he will miss his 5th straight game. The Ducks are getting both Leo Carlsson and Mikael Granlund back tonight after both missed the game against the Kraken on Monday. 

December has not been a very good month for the Kings, as they have not played well, and if they lose tonight, it will be their 3rd straight loss. The Kings' biggest issue right now is their lack of offence; they are bottom 5 for goals per game. The Kings' defence, while not perfect, has been strong, along with the goaltending; the most goals they have allowed in a game this month is 4. Since the Kings' 6-0 win over the Blackhawks on December 6th, they have not scored more than 2 goals. 

The other big issue this month is the lack of production from Quinton Byfield. Byfield has not registered a point in his last 10 games, but the biggest issue with his lack of production is that in those 10 games, the shortest amount of ice time he has gotten is 16 minutes. For the Kings to succeed, they need him to start scoring more points. 

This game is a big one for the Kings. Coming off the winter break, they can get a much-needed win against a divisional opponent. My prediction for the game tonight is a 4-1 win for the Kings.